Anger: an·ger/ˈaNGɡər/
noun
1. A strong feeling of annoyance, displeasure, or hostility. (Oxford)
2. A strong feeling of displeasure and usually of antagonism (Merriam-Webster)
Rage: /rāj/
noun
-
violent, uncontrollable anger.
verb
-
feel or express violent uncontrollable anger. (Oxford)
He made the letter Eyin (ע) king over anger/ And He bound a crown to it/ And He combined one with another/ And with them He formed/ Capricorn in the Universe/ Tevet in the Year/ And the liver in the Soul/ male and female./
Historical Connections to Tevet
בשמונה בטבת נכתבה התורה יונית בימי תלמי המלך והיה חושך בעולם שלשה ימים בט' בו לא נודע איזה היא הצרה שאירע בו:
On the eighth of Tevet the Torah was written in Greek during the days of King Ptolemy and darkness was in the world for three days. On the ninth of it, it was not known who caused the trouble that happened on it.
וַתִּלָּקַ֨ח אֶסְתֵּ֝ר אֶל־הַמֶּ֤לֶךְ אֲחַשְׁוֵרוֹשׁ֨ אֶל־בֵּ֣ית מַלְכוּת֔וֹ בַּחֹ֥דֶשׁ הָֽעֲשִׂירִ֭י הוּא־חֹ֣דֶשׁ טֵבֵ֑ת בִּשְׁנַת־שֶׁ֭בַע לְמַלְכוּתֽוֹ:
Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus, in his royal palace, in the tenth month, which is the month of Tebeth, in the seventh year of his reign.
חייבים להתענו' בתשעה באב ובשבעה עשר בתמוז ובג' בתשרי ובעשרה בטבת מפני דברים הרעים שאירעו בהם:
Anger from a Jewish Perspective
At The Well Project
For Jews, Tevet is the time to face difficult subjects and emotions. During this month, we remember both sieges of Jerusalem, a downer if there ever was one, and we begin reading Exodus, the harrowing account of our ancestors’ descent into slavery. To more fully embody our remembrance of these accounts, we fast. However, instead of being overwhelmed with anger over these atrocities, Jews are invited to learn from our history and grow. We didn’t survive 3,000+ years by being angry.
We survived because we felt that heat rise in our blood, heard the call, channeled that boiling energy to action, and transformed the whole affair into a story to be recounted later, with a positive, triumphant message.
When we treat anger like this, we become agents of change.
Easier said than done, of course. If you’re like most humans, the first thing you’ll often notice is anger’s negative impact on your life. Feeling angry all the time leaves us feeling sick, tired, and closed.
Each and every one of the children of mankind has many innate tendencies which differ one from the other and which are extremely afar. There is one person of a feverish temperment, constantly vexed, and there is another person of a calm disposition, without angry moods whatever, and if they do show anger it is but one bit of anger in many years; one person is overmuch supercilious, and another person is extremely unobtrusive; one is sensual, whose being is never stilled by the pursuit of propensity, and one is so pure-hearted that they feel no craving even for the barest necessities of the body; one's being is so greedy that the world's money will not satisfy them, as the subject is spoken of: "He that loveth silver shall not be satisfied with silver" (Ecc. 5.10); and one's being is so restrained that they consider enough even part of the little which is insufficient for their need and they will not pursue to attain all needs; one suffers hunger in their effort of hoarding and does not eat a cent's worth of their own without great torture to themselves, and another wastes their money with their own hand deliberately. And of such ways are all the rest of the tendencies, as the optimist and pessimist, miser and philanthropist, cruel and merciful, coward and stout-hearted and the like.
Questions to ponder:
What am I angry about?
How does this anger manifest in my life?
How could I better channel my anger into constructive action?
How will my anger fuel one positive change or action in my life in 2020?
How can this Rosh Chodesh Society keep me accountable towards this goal?